The Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center opens with a party tonight on the anniversary of the birthday of its namesake, the legendary blues singer who was born in Tuscaloosa. The center will serve as this area’s newest home for arts, artists and arts lovers.

By Mark Hughes CobbStaff Writer | The Tuscaloosa News

The Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center opens with a party tonight on the anniversary of the birthday of its namesake, the legendary blues singer who was born in Tuscaloosa. The center will serve as this area’s newest home for arts, artists and arts lovers.The converted Allen and Jemison building at Seventh Street and Greensboro Avenue in downtown Tuscaloosa is using 120,000 square feet crafted into a pair of airy exhibit spaces, a black-box theater, grand hall, catering areas and office spaces.The center is managed by the Arts Council of Tuscaloosa, the umbrella organization that also runs the Bama Theatre on the other corner of that Greensboro block. The interior of the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center mixes old and new, with the sturdy brick facade of the 1903 building largely intact. Ground floor ceilings soar 18 feet high; heart pine floors were refinished and towering windows replaced. Rotating walls were added to the exhibit areas. Pneumatic tubes were left curving overhead from the days when the old hardware store workers sent money zooming back to the cashier’s office. Those rear spaces have been turned into homes for the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, the Tuscaloosa Children’s Theatre, the Tuscaloosa Community Dancers, the Arts Council’s satellite office and more.The Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center will play host to rotating exhibits from the community and University of Alabama and will host performances of theater and music. The center will be available to rent for weddings, community meetings and rehearsals.“We are pretty close to ready,” said Meghan Hawkes, the Bama’s assistant manager and Arts Council’s marketing coordinator. “There have been a lot of last-minute things that have been happening ... touching up paint, curtains are being hung right now in the black box. There are just some things we couldn’t do until the space was all cleared out.“It’s pretty. We’re just making it ready for people to walk in.”Plans have evolved over the years since the city voted to lease the building from Christ Episcopal Church. The $3.4 million project began in 2010, cleaning and repairing windows and exterior brick, bringing electric and plumbing up to code, tearing down an old stairwell and building two new ones, adding and completing a side entrance, new bathrooms, offices, kitchen, display and black-box spaces. Only the first floor is complete; earlier plans envisioned the second floor as artists’ work spaces, but rising costs and delays after the April 27, 2011, tornado scaled the project back. Original optimistic estimates were that phase one might be open by fall 2011, but more realistic projections saw it opening in January of this year, before the August adjustment to Washington’s birthday was made.In addition to touch-ups, there were other additions not included in the contract with Harrison Construction, such as lights, curtains, the entryway, wiring for Wi-Fi setups.“So we need to raise about another $150,000,” said Sandy Wolfe, executive director of the Arts Council. “We are 10 percent away from completing the fundraising goals. That’s not bad considering the economy.”Government agencies contributed, including $500,000 from the county commission. Corporate and foundation entities kicking in included UA, Alabama Power and the Alabama State Council on the Arts. The city secured a $1.5 million loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, for renovation and preservation, to be repaid over 20 years through portions of annual proceeds of Community Development Block Grant money, and leased use of the building through June 30, 2032.Today’s opening night event will feature the ribbon cutting at 6:30, with the work of Tuscaloosa painter James Conner in The Arts Council Gallery, and “A Magic Carpet Ride: Rugs from the Collection of Dr. and Mrs. William T. Price” on display in the UA Gallery. The Prentice Concert Chorale and other musicians will perform, and the Actor’s Charitable Theatre will bring characters from its upcoming “Shrek: The Musical.”“We’re getting all the performers ready; getting the piano tuned,” said Wolfe, who is a classically trained musician. “It’s a Christofori, 51⁄2 feet, and it sounds really nice in here.”Staff and volunteers have been working so hard on the center, it’s difficult to gain perspective, she said. Maybe once the venue opens, they can breathe a little easier.“But at the end of the evening, last night, walking away, and then coming back in ... it’s pretty special,” she said.Staff is creating a time-lapse video of the lighting of the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center, “so in 75 more years, they’ll have something special to show,” Wolfe said.Tonight’s event is free and open to the public.